


Holiday Mayhem

by dillonmania



Series: The Dillonsverse [3]
Category: The Flash (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Family, Gen, Holidays, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-30
Updated: 2012-04-30
Packaged: 2017-11-04 14:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/394733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dillonmania/pseuds/dillonmania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's only so much one man can take.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holiday Mayhem

It was hardly a secret that Lisa loved shopping, and Christmas shopping was practically a sport for her. Buying and browsing for clothes, furniture, jewellery, or anything else that caught her eye could entertain her for hours, and crowds were never a bother. However, she’d yet to learn it wasn’t a good idea to bring her husband along on these expeditions, so the entire family followed her on this hectic December evening at the mall. Roscoe had been pestered into joining her to watch the kids and help carry the purchases.

“Mommy, it smells like gingerbread in here! Can we have some?” Star asked, and Lisa smiled at her as she flipped through clothes on the rack.  
“Ask your daddy, honey,” her mother replied sweetly, turning her attention back to the clothes, so Star tugged at his hand.  
“Can we, Daddy?”  
“Maybe later,” he said, struggling to balance three boxes on the hand Star was clutching. With his other hand he held onto Nathaniel, who was already bored and beginning to tire.  
“When do we see Santa?” Nate demanded, having been promised this earlier to motivate good behaviour, and not about to let anyone forget it.  
“Soon, Nate. Your mom’s busy,” Roscoe told him, and the boy let out an exasperated grunt.  
“That’s what you said hours ago!” Nate complained, although it was actually more like thirty minutes ago. Time passes differently for small children.  
“I’m hungry!” Star reminded everyone loudly, and when her parents ignored her, she began stomping in circles around them as Lisa continued browsing through clothing and Roscoe attempted to look patient.

“I’m going to try these on, baby,” Lisa said to her husband, handing him her purse and coat. “Keep an eye on my things and the kidlets for me.”  
She wandered off to the change rooms as the kids grew grouchier and Roscoe became more despondent.  
“Why does Mommy take so long?” Star grumbled, and her father sighed.  
“I don’t know.”  
“This is so boring. Can we go home now?”  
“Oh God, I wish we could,” Roscoe muttered under his breath. There were few things more distressing to an ex-supervillain than being trapped in a mall with children and packages. He felt his masculinity ebbing away with each passing minute.

“I’m tired! Carry me, Daddy!” Nate whined.  
“Sorry, Nate, I’m holding too much stuff. You’ll have to keep walking.”  
“No!” Nate finally insisted, sprawling to the floor. “Not going any more!”  
“Please get up,” Roscoe asked with some desperation, embarrassed by the stares from some of the other shoppers. But the boy had his father’s stubbornness, and did not intend to budge.  
“You have to carry me!”  
“Nate, I can’t. Get up.”  
“Carry me!!”  
“Oh, for -- give me strength,” Roscoe mumbled to the god of harried parents. “Star, go get that cart over there. We’ll give that a spin.”  
Glad for something to do, Star retrieved an empty shopping cart from just outside the store, dutifully wheeling it over to her stressed-out father. He dumped the packages and Lisa’s belongings into it, then lifted up the squirming Nate and put him in too.  
“I wanted you to carry me!” Nate demanded irritably, and Roscoe rubbed his temples.  
“No. I’m tired too. At least you don’t have to walk anymore, so enough of this.”  
“I want to go hoooooooooome…” the boy wailed, and Roscoe considered just walking out of there, with or without the children, but fortunately Lisa returned moments later.

“Shush, Nate,” she scolded mildly, although he paid no attention. “I see things are going well,” she observed with a wry expression.  
“Oh yes, everything’s just tops,” he replied unhappily, so she put an arm around him.  
“Well, I’m almost done, and then we can go soon.”  
“Good. My head is spinning.”  
“You’re punning again, baby,” Lisa reminded him, and he anxiously raked his fingers through his hair a few times.  
“Am I? I hadn’t noticed.”  
“You’ve been so patient…there’s just one store left, and I’ll get you all a treat while you wait,” she said with a loving smile.

Five minutes later, Roscoe and the kids were all sucking on candy canes as Lisa browsed through her last store. For the kids, it was a rare treat and temporarily assuaged their hunger pangs. For their father, it distracted and helped calm him.  
“Can we see Santa after this?” Nate asked as he wriggled around in the cart and chewed on his candy.  
“Maybe,” Roscoe replied, still a bit agitated. He wished he’d brought some Valium on the outing, and briefly thought about robbing the pharmacy at one end of the mall. But best not to do it with the kids around.  
“You said I could see him!” Nate protested with justified annoyance, but his father’s head whipped around to glower at him, and he quickly went silent. He knew that look.

“Daddy’s grumpy,” Star whispered to her brother, who nodded with concern. “We should get him a present.”  
“He can have the rest of my candy cane!” Nate suggested brightly, but she shook her head in disgust.  
“That’s gross, it has your spit on it. It should be something better.”  
Nate thought about it for a moment, then had an idea. “Hey lady!” he yelled to a woman passing by in full winter gear, “can we give your funny hat to my daddy?”  
The woman looked at him with puzzlement, and Roscoe went pale.  
“Nathaniel, that was extremely rude,” he hissed, and smiled weakly at the woman, who was staring at the three of them with a raised eyebrow. The candy cane jutting akimbo from Roscoe’s mouth probably didn’t help.  
“He is very young, and doesn’t think before he speaks. My apologies,” he offered, and she went on her way, thinking uncomplimentary thoughts about the entire family.  
“We have to get out of here before the day gets worse,” Roscoe groaned. “It’s just one thing on top of another.”

He hustled Star along, and pushed the cart (containing Nate and the packages) in the direction of the store Lisa was currently browsing, fighting his way through the crowds. At one point, Star was briefly separated from him, making him even more frantic, and by the time he got to the store he was not a happy camper.  
“Lisa, we’re going home _now_. Top speed.”  
His wife noted the stressed expression on his face and the probably-unintentional pun, and realized he’d had enough.   
“Well okay, baby,” she said softly, leaving the items on the rack. She took Star’s hand and let Roscoe push the cart, which he did with grim determination, willing himself to not lose it in public. They made a speedy beeline for the mall exit, only to have a security guard chase them down once they’d reached the parking lot.  
“Excuse me, sir,” the man announced gruffly, “but you are leaving with stolen property.”  
“What?” Lisa asked with confusion.  
“That shopping cart belongs to the store.”  
Roscoe started to laugh, but it was manic and agitated and Lisa did not like the sound of it. “Believe me, if I was going to steal something, it would be considerably more valuable than this.”  
“Please give it back, sir.”  
“Gladly.”

Before Lisa could calm him, his telekinesis lifted Nate out of the cart, and then sent it hurtling at the mall’s large windowed doors. The cart crashed into them with a loud shattering of glass, sending other shoppers ducking for cover.  
“There! It’s all yours! Enjoy!” Roscoe shouted at the guard, ignoring Lisa’s attempts to drag him away. She was dismayed that all her packages were still in the cart, but was trying to keep the situation from escalating further. The man stared at the destruction in disbelief, and Star was crying. Only Nate was cheerful, having enjoyed the telekinetic ride.  
“Come on, baby, let it go,” Lisa pleaded worriedly. “Go back to the car. I’ll handle this.”  
“I think not. This gentleman needs to be taught some respect.”  
His eyes were slightly wild and occasionally glowing with fierce intensity, and Lisa was afraid the situation would end in bloodshed.  
“ _Please_ , Roscoe,” she begged, gripping his arm and staring him in the face, “do you really want the kids to see this?”  
Some nearby parked cars began to rattle violently, and then abruptly stopped.  
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, his expression weary. He pulled a wad of bills from his pocket and handed them to the security guard, who had been calling for backup on his radio. Roscoe turned and walked silently to the car, where he put his head down on the steering wheel.

“My husband has a mental illness, and his behaviour can be erratic when he’s stressed,” Lisa explained tearfully to the guard, thoroughly embarrassed by the staring crowd that had gathered in the aftermath of the crash. “I shouldn’t have let things get to this point. I’m very sorry.”  
The guard felt pity for her and the anxious children pressed against her, and shook his head in disbelief.  
“I guess nobody was hurt, and this money should cover the damages. You can gather your things and go, ma’am.”  
“Oh God, thank you,” she whispered, and hugged him tightly. She quickly grabbed her packages and hurried the children to the car. They were silent, no longer complaining or begging for anything.  
Roscoe was sitting in the driver’s seat, his face blank, and said nothing when Lisa bundled the kids into the back.  
“I think I should drive,” she told him softly, and he moved over to the passenger side without a word. When they arrived home, she put him to bed with a cool compress, as the only thing he would say was that he had a headache.

“Mommy, why did Daddy do that?” Star asked with a solemn expression, and Lisa cuddled both children closely, worried about what they’d witnessed. They’d never seen their father lose control like that before.  
“He was tired and not feeling well. He just needs a rest, so you guys have to be very good for a while.”  
“Will Santa skip our house because he was bad?” Nate wondered with some concern, making his mother almost want to cry.  
“Oh, I’m sure Santa will be here…we have an understanding,” she assured him. Perhaps she should get Mick Rory to pay a visit in his Santa suit, just to convince the kids. “Besides, Daddy didn’t _intend_ to be bad. You know how sometimes you get grumpy when you’re tired or hungry? That’s what happened to him.”  
“Santa should give him a spanking,” Nate said gravely, and Lisa thought that sounded like an excellent plan -- when Roscoe was more stable, obviously.

“I have an idea: why don’t we all make some Christmas cookies for Daddy and Santa?” Lisa suggested. “That should cheer him up and make him feel better.” She also planned to carefully check her husband’s meds, to ensure he was actually taking them.  
“That would be fun, and Santa will definitely come if we do that!” Star enthused, so Lisa ushered the kids into the kitchen for some holiday baking. Anything to take their minds off what had happened, and anything to help Roscoe recover. And the cookies they made for him were all shaped like tops, of course.


End file.
